


Welcome! Hold Still!

by elynne



Category: Flight Rising
Genre: Dragons, Lightning flight, Mad Science, dragons with poor impulse control, nonconsensual transformation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-07
Updated: 2014-01-07
Packaged: 2018-01-07 22:06:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1124921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elynne/pseuds/elynne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A new member of a Lightning clan discovers that living with a bunch of Wildclaw scientists can change her life in very unexpected ways.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Welcome! Hold Still!

**Author's Note:**

> A thank-you story for Azure, for giving me a preview of Zerua as a Coatl!

"I'm really showing you this area so you know where to stay away from most of the time."

Zerua paused, in the process of wriggling her shoulders through the relatively narrow cavern passage. "Then--should I not be going in here, Aizerue?" she asked with a note of anxiety in her voice.

The much smaller Wildclaw trotted back, a blue light on a stalk bobbing over her head and flashing reflections off spools of wire and unidentifiable metal bits hammered into the walls. "Well, normally, no, but everybody's allowed to come in once," she said. "Besides, you need to know who these folks are, especially Nizori and Cedrift."

"All right," the Imperial said, finally slithering through the archway and pausing half-coiled in the stone hallway. She was glad that the ceiling was high enough that she didn't have to worry about getting her antlers tangled in the jumble of cables and dangling, multicolored lights. "There's a lot of Wildclaws in this clan. Do you attract a lot of--"

She broke off as a dark figure burst out from a doorway further down the hall, then came racing towards them at top speed. Zerua was hatched and raised in the Plaguelands, and though she had managed to rid herself of most of the fighting impulses that had served her well in that harsh environment, she couldn't help interpreting the approach as a possible attack. The Imperial reared back, mantling her wings and spreading her hind legs for a firm grip on the stone floor, while raising her forelegs defensively.

Fortunately, Aizerue intercepted the newcomer, using her body to knock the other dragon aside. "Devi, don't scare the newbie!" she said, quickly hopping back out of the other Wildclaw's reach.

"New--oh, right." The gray Wildclaw hardly seemed to have noticed the interruption, or Zerua's alarm. "I'm Devicelo, Cedrift is my mate, I guess you're getting the tour, I am so glad to see an Imperial right now!" There was a strange ticking, whirring sound as the lenses in Devicelo's goggles adjusted.

"Uh... hello," Zerua said, lowering her forelegs. "Why..."

"Hold still!" The Imperial didn't have time to react, only hearing Aizerue's startled screech and catching a brief glimpse of a strange contraption pointed at her face before there was an overwhelming flash of light. Blinded and completely disoriented, she stumbled over her own feet, wings flapping uselessly as she tumbled to sprawl on the ground.

Zerua was vaguely aware of the two Wildclaws tussling in the hallway as her vision slowly cleared. She tried to stand up, but something was wrong with her legs--with her whole body. When she shook her head to clear it, even the flapping of her feathered mane felt unfamiliar. "What... what..." Finally climbing to a sitting position, she looked up at the other two dragons. "What happened?" she wailed, her voice strangely high-pitched.

Aizerue was now holding the strange metal contraption, which was giving off sparks and smoke, while Devicelo nearly danced in place, obviously overjoyed. "It worked! Perfectly! It's usually very difficult to get results like this from Imperials, I think you have innate resistances to shapeshifting, but it worked perfectly, it even looks pretty good on you!"

"Devi, what did you do?" Aizerue said with a very uncharacteristic growl.

"Devicelo decided to try out my invention without checking with me first." A third wildclaw approached the group, her black body shimmering strangely with the reflected lights from the cavern. She glared at the grey Wildclaw, who seemed to wilt in place, then sighed and took the smoldering device from Aizerue. "I would have explained that I wasn't sure about the power backsurge, and asked one of the other Imperials to volunteer for the test." 

"What's happened to me?" Zerua squeaked plaintively. "Did you shrink me? I feel sssso ssssstrange..." She trailed off, obviously startled by the hiss in her voice.

Aizerue and Nizori looked at each other, while Devicelo stared at the ground sheepishly. "Well, um... have you heard of the new dragons that have been found recently?" Nizori finally asked. "The--little ones?"

"The Coatl? What about them?" Zerua suddenly sat up and looked at her foreclaws, then twisted around and examined her back and tail. "No... you didn't!"

"I didn't, but it seems Devicelo has." 

"Change me back!" Zerua squeaked, flapping her wings angrily. She squeaked again as she rose off the floor and hovered in the air, blinking. 

"I'm... not sure I can," Nizori said, prodding gingerly at the machine in her claws. "Not with this, anyway, and not for a while--it takes time to properly tune a form resonance crystal, and this was the only one we had of the Coatl so far." She opened a compartment on the side, releasing a cascade of blackened, splintered shards to spill onto the floor, then shot Devicelo another glare. "And this machine is completely ruined. I'll have to build a new one and call in some favors. I'll make it my personal top priority, but it will take at least a few days."

"I'm so sorry about this!" Aizerue spread her forearms with a helpless look. "I only meant to take you on a tour! This is terrible, you must think we're horrible dragons now!"

"Actually..." Zerua twirled in midair, zoomed up to the ceiling and back down, then perched delicately on Aizerue's back. "This is kind of fun. I'd rather you had asked first," she said, giving Devicelo a glare of her own, "and please do find a way to change me back... although maybe by the time you find it, I might want to stay this way." She grinned at the surprised Wildclaws, then darted for the cavern's entrance. "I think I'll challenge that Fae to a race! What was his name, Inkwell?" In a flash she was gone down the passage.

There was a moment of silence in the cavern before Nizori chuckled. "I think she'll fit in here just fine," she said, then reached over and gave Devicelo a solid thwack to the head. "But don't think you're out of trouble because she's taking it well," she growled. "I'm going to need more crystals to work on, and you're going to dig them up for me, on a diet of herdbeast hooves."

"Ugh, those are so bony," the grey wildclaw muttered. "Fine, fine. And I'll do all the wiring again, too. You have to admit it worked, though."

"It did," Nizori said, hefting the contraption thoughtfully. "If we can fix the power feedback and adjust the range..."

"I have a few ideas about that!" Devicelo said excitedly. In moments the two Wildclaws had retreated to the laboratory cavern, and Aizerue was left alone in the hallway. She sighed and shook her head. "I wish I could finish just one tour without something like this happening..." The she shrugged and fluttered her wings. "All's well that ends well, I suppose."


End file.
